Government plaza was a busy meeting ground last week for city employees, including police and fire.
At the Mon. (Dec 13), council work session a large number city employees were in the chambers and the overflow room. Comments from citizens, mainly city workers, lasted approximately 90 minutes. Most comments were directed to the proposed pay raise for first responders only.
At the Tues., (Dec 14), council regular meeting, the number swelled substantially--probably twice as many city workers gathered at city hall. The Shreveport Fire Department was well represented, driving five fire trucks and two SUVS to the meeting and parking them on Travis and McNeil. At this meeting citizen comments consumed 150 minutes, and again the first responder only pay raise was the primary topic of citizen comments.
At the Fri., (Dec 17), mayoral press conference announcing a pay raise plan for all city employees was attended by almost all department heads and a sizeable group of city employees.
How many of the employees at these three gatherings were still not on personal time verus city time is an open question. Certainly the crews of the seven SFD vehicles were on the clock.
The council will have an pay raise agenda item on it combined work session/regular meeting on Tues. Dec. 28. This is a two reader, so unless tabled it will be on the Jan. 11 work session and the Jan. 12 regular meeting agenda.
Hopefully city employees attending one or all of these three meetings will not be on the city clock in the sense of being paid while attending unless on personal leave, with the exception of a very small number of first responders and city department heads. With no offense to the city workers, they should not be paid while lobbying for pay raises.
